Instrument for examining tubes and cavities in the human and other bodies



G. WOLF March 19, 1935.

DIES

INSTRUMENT FOR EXAMINING TUBES AND CAVITIE IN THE HUMAN AND OTHER BOFiled June 29, 1953 Patented Mar. 19, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEOTHER BODIES Georg Wolf, Berlin,

Georg Wolf G. in.

TUBES T AND Germany, assignor to firm b. H., Berlin, Germany ApplicationJune 29, 1933, Serial No.

In Germany July 6, 1932 3 Claims.

I have filed an application in 1932.

The present invention relates to instruments according to the copendingapplication Ser. No.

Germany, July 6,

5 549,369 and aims at considerably increasing their eificiency.Instruments of this kind have proved to be specially suitable when notall, but only part of their length is flexible and when the remainingpart, viz. the part between eye-piece and approximately the middle isrigid. This kind of flexibility is just suflicient to provide for thedesired facile introduction into a body and, on the other hand, theinstrument not only ofiers the advantage of an improved image qualitybut also provides the possibility of a better control during theintroduction and examination.

The image quality obtained in an instrument according to the parentpatent may be further improved by making the lenses in the flexible partdisplaceable along the interior of the hose and by providing that anelastic pressure pushes these lenses against the one end of the flexiblehose. Not only is there obtained in this manner a better elasticity ofthe instrument, but also the possibility of adjusting the lensesrelatively to each other is largely improved as compared to that in the.constructional form according to the parent patent, in which thedifferent lenses are tightly screwed to the hose.

Further, the construction of the instruments according to the parentpatent, in which the hose containing the optical parts is enveloped in ahose of elastic material, for instance rubber, proved that the air orthe like to be introduced into the cavity to be examined may preferablyflow through the space between the two hoses. This is explained in thefollowing description, reference being had to the accompanying drawmg.

The accompanying drawing represents the constructional example of agastroscope according to the invention in longitudinal sectionon acomparatively large scale (Figure 1) and in view (Figure 2).

The gastroscope represented in the drawing consists of a rigid part aand a flexible part a these two parts being interconnected byanintermediate piece 03. The rigid part alcontains an eye-piece a. Inthe flexible part a of the instrument, the mounts of the'lensesdesignated 1) are loosely disposed next to each other and held inposition bymeans of a cylindrical spiral spring c pressing them againstthe intermediate piece (1 The flexible part a of the instrument isenveloped in a rubber hose d (which is represented in Figure 1 only).With the exception of its ends, which are cemented to the instrument,the hose d lies loosely against the tube a. The wall of the rigid part aof the instrument has a canal e for the supply of air, this canalleading to where the rubber hose dis beginning to be loose. In the otherend of the loose part of the rubber hose d, near the objective, isdisposed an aperture d Air pressed into the canal e direct, enters at a:the space between the rubber hose d and the flexible-tube a? and passesby way of the aperture d into the stomach.

I claim:

1. An instrument for examining the interior of tubes and cavities in thehuman and other bodies, comprising a metal tube, an objective, and aneye piece, the objective and the eye-piece being disposed in the frontand the rearend of the said tube, respectively, that part of the saidtube which extends from.the objective to approximately the middle of thetube being flexible, and the remaining part of the tube being rigid, anda comparatively great number of converging lenses disposed at shortintervals within the flexible part of the tube, these lenses receivingthe beam of light which emanates from the objective and directingthisbeam to the eye-piece.

2. An instrument for examining the interior of tubes and cavities in thehuman and other bodies, comprising a metal tube, an objective, and aneye-piece, the objective and the eye-piece being disposed in the frontand the rear said tube, respectively, at least part of the said tubebeing flexible, a comparatively great number of converging lensesdisposed in such a manner in the flexible part as to be freelydisplaceable in the direction of the axis of this part, and resilientmeans adapted to press these lenses against the one end of the saidtube.

3. An instrument for examining the interior of tubes and cavities in thehuman and other bodies, comprising a metal tube, an objective, and aneye-piece, the objective and the eye-piece being disposed in the frontand the rear end of the said tube, respectively, lenses so placed in thetube and between the objective and the eyepiece as to direct to theeye-piece the beam of light emanating from 'the objective, an elastichose enveloping the said tube, and means disposed in the instrument andadapted to introduce air between the tube andthe hose into the cavitiesor tubes to be examined.

GEoRG WOLF.

